


Partner in Crime

by ILoveDragonsALot



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Thrawn Series - Timothy Zahn (2017)
Genre: Art lectures, But Pyrondi isn't telling Eli that, Crack, Eli & Pyrondi being nosy little buggers, Eli having an existential crisis, Eli might ship it, F/M, Faro is so gonna kill them, Fluff and Humor, Holochess, Just not outwardly, Oblivious Eli, One Shot, Pyrondi is very supportive, Pyrondi ships it, They might get caught, Thraro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 03:49:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29272011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ILoveDragonsALot/pseuds/ILoveDragonsALot
Summary: Pyrondi drags Eli along, needing a partner in crime after receiving some rather interesting information.He just wanted to see some holochess.
Relationships: Eli Vanto & Pyrondi, Karyn Faro/Thrawn | Mitth'raw'nuruodo
Comments: 6
Kudos: 19





	Partner in Crime

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Blue_Daddys_Girl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Daddys_Girl/gifts).



> Never written Thraro before, but nevertheless, hope ya like it!  
> Enjoy... XD

_"Move!"_

Eli squished himself further into the vent's wall, trying not to elbow her in the process. "I _am."_

"Then move more, dammit," Pyrondi hissed, squeezing past him. Her voice echoed flatly across the shaft. "I knew I never should have eaten that last piece of cake."

"Wait, what cake? I didn't get any cake."

"For Kenda's new niece. Don't you keep up with the news?" She managed to awkwardly twist around and frown at him. "There was a party and everything."

He muttered something under his breath. "I'm always off ship when the good stuff happens."

"Oh, shut up. They'll hear us."

"There is no way we're spying on Thrawn without him noticing. Faro's gonna have our-"

Pyrondi leaned over the grate. "Oh my god, they're touching _hands!"_

"Wait, _what?_ Lemme see." He pressed his face into the grate. "Hang on, they're..."

Eli's words died as his mouth fell open.

Pyrondi smirked up at him.

"They're a _thing?"_

"You're so cute, Vanto. Do you think I would jam myself into a vent just to watch two people play holochess?" Pyrondi squinted. "Oh my god, they're _actually_ playing holochess."

Eli was still staring at her. "How have I not noticed?"

"Be quiet, Vanto. You'll give us away."

 _But... you mean they_ don't _just_ _play holochess every Friday evening?_

He shook his head, eyes closed in what could be a silent prayer. "Faro's so gonna kill us."

_No wonder they're always the last ones to leave._

"She's never gonna find out." Pyrondi shifted so Eli could have a piece of the grate too. "What sick psychopaths bond over holochess? The door is _locked,_ people!"

"Oh come on, it's Thrawn."

Beneath them, the two sat at a gaming table lit up with a half-played chess board, Faro's back to the door. Any sane officer would be well and truly asleep by now, so there wouldn't be many looking to take over the gaming lounge. Except these two, obviously, because apparently Thrawn was having a new holotable set up in his office that just happened to have an added game setting. For practical purposes, of course. It just meant if they _did_ want to bond over holochess, they couldn't do it in his office.

But it was simply luck Pyrondi had come across that information, Eli told himself, and it was only coincidence that this lounge had a grate in the vent.

Eli itched his face, wondering when he could've become so frighteningly oblivious.

Faro, deeply frowning and chewing her lip, made her next move.

Thrawn smiled, satisfied with her choice. "A placing true to your origins, Commodore. You see, Corellian art often follows-"

"He did _not_ just do that." Pyrondi held back a snicker. "He even brought art holos along."

Eli sighed. "Of course he did."

Straining his eyes through the slits, he could just see Thrawn holding up a holocomm, something distinctly orange shining through the blue tinge of the hologram. From here, it looked like some sort of crude transparisteel window, shards pieced together in a myriad of different shades of orange. He'd never seen that one in Thrawn's collection. Or maybe, he told himself, that was the point.

He groaned. _I'm so going to die. What's worse? Thrawn, or Faro?_

"-an obvious weakness in any Corellian majority fleet. As you can see here, the angle of the strokes-"

"Just kiss already!" She hissed. "Maker, you idiots have been in High Command too long."

Eli almost second-guessed himself as Thrawn's blue hand gently turned Faro's over, palm up, and he traced his fingers down her wrist.

"-A code that runs deeply in the blood of your people."

_Oh, definitely Faro. I might as well run while I can._

Pyrondi giggled.

Eli shuffled backwards, drawing his hands away from the grate. _I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die..._

Pyrondi grabbed his wrist. "Where are _you_ going?"

"Saving my soul."

She tightened his grip. "Nuh-uh. I ain't staying up here on my own. Plus, you're in this now as much as I am." Pyrondi smiled. "Congrats!"

He tried to yank his arm back. "You told me they were battling out a final game of holochess!"

"They are." She pointed with her free hand. "It says so right there."

He shuffled back over to the grate. "Krayt spit."

"It literally says 'FINAL GAME.'"

Eli peered back down. Sure enough, in bold letters, FINAL GAME had been projected along both sides of the table.

_Unbelievable._

Pyrondi smiled innocently. "Now, you wanna see them play it out, or what?"

Eli grumbled. "I can't believe I'm doing this."

 _"Relax._ As long as you shut up, both of us get what we came here for." Her smile turned wicked. "And no, we're not spying. We could walk right into the gaming lounge, you know."

"Except they've locked the door."

"Except for that."

Faro said something back, at which Pyrondi's grin widened. _"Yes!_ You've got this girl!"

Eli didn't hear it over his heart running a marathon in his ears.

Pyrondi murmured something to him. "Now _this_ is why I set up game night."

Eli blinked, thinking back to her excited chatter over the normally boring mess lunch.

_"We should start a game night! Cards, holochess. No gambling, of course, but drinks are welcome."_

_Eli nodded enthusiastically. "I'll bring the snacks!"_

_Pyrondi smiled back at him, her eyes full of mischief. Strange, considering it_ wasn't _going to involve gambling._

He sighed. _I really fell for that, didn't I?_

Pyrondi shifted around the cramped space as much as she possibly could as the conversation below them continued, trying to find a more comfortable position. After all, they knew _exactly_ how long holochess between Faro and the Admiral usually took. _Especially_ because the Commodore had been a star player back in her academy days. She'd presented a good enough challenge that they'd actually come to a tie.

_I still can't believe they were going to play the final without us. I feel betrayed._

Faro smiled shyly, resting her other hand over Thrawn's. "Do you think we should tell, well..."

Pyrondi attempted to unsquish her foot by sliding sideways and unfolding her legs, but in the kind of event that only happened when luck finally ran thin, her clumsy hand swiped her comm hard.

It fell and clattered loudly across the vent, skidding to a stop against Vanto's knee.

Faro's head jerked up, snapping her hand away. "What was that?"

Eli mouthed _"Kriff!"_ and flattened himself against the vent's floor, not daring to breathe. His whole life flashed before him, from that time he put salt in his mother's caf right to this, where he was sure his body would stay. Stuck in a vent.

_I'm never trusting Pyrondi again._

His teeth clenched as two sets of footsteps echoed through the grate.

Pyrondi's wide eyes met his.

"So," she whispered, her lips pressed into a thin, completely terrified line. "...before we die, _do you ship it?"_


End file.
